Page 29 of Fatal Thrill
“She’s got a lot on her shoulders with this expansion of her business. That lotionstuff.”
Shelby seemed to think his “lotion stuff” term humorous. “It’s a big deal, but she’s working too hard. I mean, I’ve seen her go a hundred miles an hour most of her adult life, chasing what she wanted and being damn successful at it, but this is different. Something isoff.”
Jaya had seemed that way to him too. At the hotel on New Year’s Eve, she hadn’t wanted anything to eat, saying her stomach was queasy. He’d had to take off soon after and he hadn’t thought much about it. A dozen different viruses floated around this time of year, and he’d assumed she’d probably caught one. He never got sick, so he hadn’t been worried about picking it up himself. When she’d been at his place earlier, she’d only eaten toast and drank tea. Her appetite was normally a lot bigger. “I think she’s got a stomachbug.”
Shelby nodded, seeming to think that over. “My mom always said if Jaya didn’t have bad luck, she’d have none atall.”
“Sounds like she had a rough homelife.”
The expression Shelby made, crinkling up her nose, told Jon that was putting it mildly. “Rough and weird. Not that her parents were abusive or anything, but neglectful? Definitely. Jaya had to be mother and father to Finn most of his life or he would have turned into a juvenile delinquent like Colton. Maybeworse.”
“Is thatpossible?”
Shelby’s patient smile said no. Her husband had been quite the handful in his youth. Stillwas.
Thunder boomed outside the plane and Jon held his breath, but Jaya’s sleeping form stayed still except for the rise and fall of her chest. “Finn’s got himself into a real jam, following in his father’sfootsteps.”
Shelby touched the file on her lap. “Sean O’Sullivan is definitely not a good role model, but he is an interesting one. I’m not surprised Finn fell under his charm. I’m sure treasure hunting is a lot more fun than being responsible and helping Jaya take care of theirmom.”
Jon tried to put himself in Finn’s shoes. Finn wasn’t a kid anymore, but he was still only twenty-one and had no clue what he wanted to do with his life from what Jaya had said. He’d never been interested in school, so college was pointless. He’d worked a job at a grocery store but found that too boring and had quit. Jaya had given him a job at her spa, only to have him not show up half the time, forcing her to fire him right before Christmas. She hadn’t said it, but Jon had picked up on the fact that she felt guilty. Had she pushed Finn into her father’s arms, setting him up for what hadfollowed?
Finn was a grown man with no ambition, but it was easy to understand why she was tight-lipped and distant. She was processing a lot ofshit.
Having her on this mission might be the wrong move—he’d debated with himself all the way to the airport. But she needed to feel in charge, like she had some say in what went down, and leaving her behind would have backfired on him. She wouldn’t have stayed put, even with Shelby keeping her in lockdown. Jaya had a mind of her own and nobody could force her to doanything.
He loved that about her, probably because he was the same. The harder people tried to push him into a hole or label him, the harder he foughtback.
There was no way he’d let her get hurt. She was the air inside his chest now. He needed her like he did oxygen to breathe. He planned to keep her safe, no matter what, and the sooner he figured out who these bastards were, the sooner he could dole out justice and wrap up this case. He wanted Jaya to be happy again. Full offire.
She shifted, turning her head. Her eyelids opened and she stared out at the darkness over the Atlantic. “I still can’t believe my father is an international thief. No one is more of a juvenile delinquent than Colton, and yes, I’msick.”
Jon and Shelby exchanged anoh shitlook. Jaya hadn’t been sleeping the whole time, obviously. “You heard all that?” Jonasked.
She hit the seat adjuster and righted her chair, then handed Shelby the blanket before standing and motioning for him to let her pass by. “I need my overnight bag. Where isit?”
He jumped up, feeling like a heel for being dumb enough to talk about her while she was right there. In his defense, he really had thought she wassleeping.
Note to self… Jaya’s good atbluffing.
Down at the end of the plane near the restrooms, he opened the door to a small cargo hold where their bags were stashed. Hers was neon pink with purple polka dots, a sharp contrast to the rest of the bags in drabshades.
Jaya always stood out, even if it was just hersuitcase.
She stood behind him, looking a little green around the gills. “What do you need out of it? I’ll get it for you. Go sitdown.”
“Bring it to thebathroom.”
“Okay.”
The restroom was a few feet away and he released the fold-out changing table Beatrice had installed before Sloane arrived to set the bag on. He turned to get out of Jaya’s way and found her crowding in behindhim.
Good thing the room was bigger than a normal plane’s restroom, because even though Jaya didn’t weigh more than one-twenty, he did, and the two of them together still filled up the extraspace.
The plane dipped, turbulence once again nailing them, and she ended up in hisarms.
He held her until it passed, enjoying how well she fit against him. Like she was made forhim.
She maneuvered around him and locked the door. His brain blipped for half a second and he thought he might be getting lucky, but then he looked at her wan face and lowered gaze and knew sex was the last thing on hermind.
